Herb Jeffries Film career What films was he in? The films include Harlem on the Prairie, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem Rides the Range and Two-Gun Man from Harlem. Did he star in them or was he a supporting character? Jeffries starred as a singing cowboy, in several all-black Western films, in which he sang his own western compositions. Were these films a hit? Though critical reception was mixed, the film received a write-up in Time magazine and grossed $50,000 in its first 12 months. What were the reviews like? Jeffries became known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" by his fans.
How many films did he do?
How many films did Herb Jeffries do?
Touring the Deep South with Hines, Jeffries was struck by the realities of segregation, as the Orchestra's playing was restricted to tobacco warehouses and black-only movie theatres. Watching young boys fill theatres to watch the latest western, Jeffries resolved to create a cowboy hero geared specifically for such an audience. A self-confessed western buff who had grown up watching the silent escapades of Tom Mix and Jack Holt, in the 1930s Jeffries set out to produce a low-budget western with an all-black cast. Though the silent era had seen a number of films starring only black actors, they had all but disappeared with the economic downturn and the arrival of the talkies, which proved too expensive for many of the "white independents" funding such projects. Jeffries's ambition was to produce sound cinema's "first all-Negro musical western". To fund his project, Jeffries approached a veteran B-movie producer named Jed Buell. Jeffries, having obtained finances, wrote his own songs for the film and hired Spencer Williams to appear with him. When Buell wanted to know of a likely candidate for the lead role, Jeffries nominated himself. Having grown up partly on his grandfather's farm, he had all the requisite horse-riding and roping skills, beside a fine singing voice, but Buell expressed concerns; Jeffries, whose mother was of Irish descent, was "not black enough". Eventually they went ahead, using make-up to darken the leading man's skin tone. Jeffries made his debut as a crooning cowboy with Harlem on the Prairie, which was considered the first black western following the inauguration of the talkies and the first sound Western with an all-black cast. The movie was shot in 1937 over five days at N.B. Murray's Dude Ranch in Apple Valley, California, with Jeffries performing all his own stunts. Though critical reception was mixed, the film received a write-up in Time magazine and grossed $50,000 in its first 12 months. Playing a singing cowboy in low-budget films, Jeffries became known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" by his fans. In a time of American racial segregation, such "race movies" played mostly in theaters catering to African-American audiences. The films include Harlem on the Prairie, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem Rides the Range and Two-Gun Man from Harlem.  Jeffries went on to star in another three musical westerns over the next two years. Jeffries starred as a singing cowboy, in several all-black Western films, in which he sang his own western compositions. In those films, Jeffries starred as cowboy Bob Blake, sang and performed his own stunts. Bob Blake was the good guy, with a thin mustache, who wore a white Stetson and rode a white horse named Stardusk.  Jeffries went on to make other films, starring in the title film role of Calypso Joe co-starring Angie Dickinson in Calypso Joe (1957). In 1968, Jeffries appeared in the long-running western TV series The Virginian playing a gunslinger who intimidated the town. In the 1970s he appeared on episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and Hawaii Five-0. He later directed and produced Mundo depravados, a cult film starring his wife, Tempest Storm. CANNOTANSWER
Jeffries went on to make other films, starring
Herb Jeffries (born Umberto Alexander Valentino; September 24, 1913 – May 25, 2014) was an American actor of film and television and popular music and jazz singer-songwriter, known for his baritone voice.

He starred in several low-budget "race" Western feature films aimed at black audiences, Harlem on the Prairie (1937), Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938), Rhythm Rodeo (1938), The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) and Harlem Rides the Range (1939). He also acted in several other films and television shows. During his acting career he was usually billed as Herbert Jeffrey (sometimes "Herbert Jeffries" or "Herbert Jeffries, Sensational Singing Cowboy").

In the 1940s and 1950s Jeffries recorded for a number of labels, including RCA Victor, Exclusive, Coral, Decca, Bethlehem, Columbia, Mercury and Trend. His album Jamaica, recorded by RKO, is a concept album of self-composed calypso songs.

Early life and ethnicity
Jeffries was born Umberto Alexander Valentino in Detroit to a white Irish mother who ran a rooming house. His father, whom he never knew, was of mixed Sicilian, French, Italian and Moorish roots. He also claimed that his paternal great-grandmother was an Ethiopian with the surname of Carey.

Firm evidence of Jeffries's race and age is hard to come by, but census documents from 1920 described him as mulatto and listed his father as a black man named Howard Jeffrey. Jeffries himself, late in life, said that Howard Jeffrey was his stepfather, and his biological father was Domenico Balentino, a Sicilian who died in World War I.

Jeffries once described himself in an interview as "three-eighths Negro", claiming pride in an African American heritage during a period when many light-skinned black performers were attempting "to pass" as all-white in an effort to broaden their commercial appeal. In marked contrast, Jeffries used make-up to darken his skin in order to pursue a career in jazz and to be seen as employable by the leading all-black musical ensembles of the day.

Much later in his career, Jeffries identified as white for economic or highly personal reasons. Jet reported that Jeffries identified as White and stated his "real" name as "Herbert Jeffrey Ball" on an application in order to marry Tempest Storm in 1959. Jeffries told the reporter for Jet:

Raised in Detroit, Jeffries grew up "a ghetto baby" in a mixed neighborhood without encountering severe racism as a child. In the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, he dropped out of high school to earn a living as a singer. He showed great interest in singing during his formative teenage years and was often found hanging out with the Howard Buntz Orchestra at various Detroit ballrooms. Intensely musical from boyhood, he began performing in a local speakeasy where he caught the attention of Louis Armstrong, who gave the teenager a note of recommendation for Erskine Tate at the Savoy Ballroom in Chicago. Knowing that Tate fronted an all-black band, Jeffries claimed to be a Creole and was offered a position as a featured singer three nights a week. Later he toured with Earl "Fatha" Hines's Orchestra in the Deep South.

A 2007 documentary short describes Jeffries as "assuming the identity of a man of color" early in his career. He is shown in Black/White & All That Jazz explaining that he was inspired by New Orleans-born musician Louis Armstrong to say falsely, at a job interview in Chicago, that he was "a Creole from Louisiana" when he was of Irish and Sicilian heritage, among other ethnic backgrounds.

Music career
From Detroit, at the urging of Louis Armstrong, Jeffries moved to Chicago where he performed in various clubs. One of his first gigs was in a club allegedly owned by Al Capone. Jeffries began his career working with Erskine Tate and his Vendome Orchestra. Tate signed the 19-year-old Jeffries to a contract with his Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in Chicago. His break came during the 1933 Chicago World's Fair A Century of Progress International Exposition singing with the Earl Hines Orchestra on Hines' national broadcasts live from the Grand Terrace Cafe. His first recordings were with Hines in 1934, including "Just to be in Carolina". By 1940, he was singing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and then recorded with him from 1940 to 1942. His 1940 recording of "Flamingo" with Ellington, released in 1941, sold more than 14 million copies in its day. His name had been Herbert Jeffrey, but the credits on the record mistakenly called him Jeffries, so he renamed himself to match the typo. During his time with the Duke Ellington Orchestra as a lead vocalist, Jeffries proved his talent as a mature singer, demonstrating his wide vocal range in such songs as "I Don't Know What Kind of Blues I've Got," "The Brownskin Gal," and "Jump for Joy" (all 1941). The 1944 single "My Little Brown Book" by Ellington and his Famous Orchestra, on which Jeffries provided vocals, reached No. 4 on Billboard R&B chart.

In his teens Jeffries developed a fine voice; initially he sang in higher registers. He started out his singing career as a lyrical tenor, but, on the advice of Duke Ellington's longtime music arranger, Billy Strayhorn, he lowered his range to mimic the vocal stylings of crooner Bing Crosby. Jeffries became a "silken, lusty baritone," according to music critic Jonny Whiteside.

In 1945, Jeffries had a hit on the Billboard R&B chart with "Left A Good Deal In Mobile" (No. 2), on which he was accompanied by pianist Joe Liggins and his band Honeydrippers.
Then, he moved to Europe and performed there for many years, including at nightclubs he owned. He was back in America by the 1950s, recording jazz records again, including 1957 collection of ballads, Say It Isn't So.

In 1995, at age 81, he recorded The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again), a Nashville album of songs on the Warner Western label.

Film career
Touring the Deep South with Hines, Jeffries was struck by the realities of segregation, as the Orchestra's playing was restricted to tobacco warehouses and black-only movie theatres. Watching young boys fill theatres to watch the latest western, Jeffries resolved to create a cowboy hero geared specifically for such an audience. A self-confessed western buff who had grown up watching the silent escapades of Tom Mix and Jack Holt, in the 1930s Jeffries set out to produce a low-budget western with an all-black cast. Though the silent era had seen a number of films starring only black actors, they had all but disappeared with the economic downturn and the arrival of the talkies, which proved too expensive for many of the "white independents" funding such projects. Jeffries's ambition was to produce sound cinema's "first all-Negro musical western". To fund his project, Jeffries approached a veteran B-movie producer named Jed Buell. Jeffries, having obtained finances, wrote his own songs for the film and hired Spencer Williams to appear with him. When Buell wanted to know of a likely candidate for the lead role, Jeffries nominated himself. Having grown up partly on his grandfather's farm, he had all the requisite horse-riding and roping skills, beside a fine singing voice, but Buell expressed concerns: Jeffries, whose mother was of Irish descent, was "not black enough". Eventually they went ahead, using make-up to darken the leading man's skin tone.
Jeffries made his debut as a crooning cowboy with Harlem on the Prairie, which was considered the first black western following the inauguration of the talkies and the first sound Western with an all-black cast. The movie was shot in 1937 over five days at Murray's Dude Ranch in Apple Valley, California, with Jeffries performing all his own stunts. Though critical reception was mixed, the film received a write-up in Time magazine and grossed $50,000 in its first 12 months. Playing a singing cowboy in low-budget films, Jeffries became known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" by his fans. In a time of American racial segregation, such "race movies" played mostly in theaters catering to African-American audiences. The films include Harlem on the Prairie, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem Rides the Range and Two-Gun Man from Harlem.

Jeffries went on to star in another three musical westerns over the next two years. Jeffries starred as a singing cowboy, in several all-black Western films, in which he sang his own western compositions. In those films, Jeffries starred as cowboy Bob Blake, sang and performed his own stunts. Bob Blake was the good guy, with a thin mustache, who wore a white Stetson and rode a white horse named Stardusk.

Jeffries went on to make other films, starring in the title film role of Calypso Joe co-starring Angie Dickinson in Calypso Joe (1957). In 1969, Jeffries appeared in the long-running western TV series The Virginian (episode Stopover) in which he played a gunslinger who intimidated the town. In the 1970s he appeared on episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and (in 1969)  Hawaii Five-0 [S1/Ep 17, "The Face of the Dragon" as Jardine]. He later directed and produced Mundo depravados, a cult film starring his wife, Tempest Storm.

Awards and honors
 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, 1979
 Hollywood Walk of Fame
 Palm Springs Walk of Stars, 1988
 Western Performers Hall of Fame, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 2004

Personal life
His four marriages (including one to exotic dancer Tempest Storm) produced five children.

In 2007, while assembling material for the producers of a documentary film about him (A Colored Life), Jeffries found his birth certificate; this reminded him that he actually was born in 1913 and that he had misrepresented his age after he left home to look for a job.

In later years, he resided in Wichita, Kansas. He died of heart failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center on May 25, 2014, at the age of 100. He was survived by his fifth wife, Savannah, three daughters, and two sons.

Filmography
 Harlem on the Prairie (1937)
 Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938)
 Harlem Rides the Range (1939)
 The Bronze Buckaroo (1939)
 Calypso Joe (1957)
 Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)
 Portrait of a Hitman (1977)
 Awake: The Life of Yogananda (2014)

Discography
 Magenta Moods (Exclusive, 1950)
 Just Jeffries (Mercury, 1951)
 Flamingo (Coral, 1952)
 The Singing Prophet (Olympic, 1954)
 Jamaica (RKO, 1956)
 Say It Isn't So (Bethlehem, 1957)
 Herb Jeffries (Harmony, 1957)
 Devil Is a Woman (Golden Tone, 1957)
 Passion (Brunswick, 1957)
 I Remember the Bing (Dobre, 1978)
 I've Got the World on a String (Discovery, 1989)
 The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again) (Warner Western 1995)
 The Duke and I (2012)

References

External links

 Herb Jeffries at JazzBiographies.com
 
 Herb Jeffries at B-Westerns.com
 
 Herb Jeffries Interview NAMM Oral History Library (1995)

1913 births
2014 deaths
American jazz singers
Traditional pop music singers
American country singer-songwriters
African-American male actors
American male television actors
Male Western (genre) film actors
African-American male singer-songwriters
American male film actors
Singing cowboys
Male actors from Detroit
Mercury Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Duke Ellington Orchestra members
American people of Irish descent
American people of Italian descent
African-American country musicians
African-American centenarians
Jazz musicians from Michigan
American male jazz musicians
Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Exclusive Records artists
Men centenarians
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Michigan
How Do I Look is a 2006 American documentary directed by Wolfgang Busch. The film chronicles ball culture in Harlem and Philadelphia over a ten-year period.

Overview
Wolfgang Busch began interviewing subjects from the ball circuit in the mid-1990s and continued filming for a decade. How Do I Look documents the ball culture, which began in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, and has since influenced mainstream artists and musicians. The film follows several ball "legends" such as Willi Ninja, Kevin UltraOmni, Octavia St. Laurent, Pepper LaBeija and Jose Xtravaganza. Many of the subjects that are featured in How Do I Look were also featured in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.

How Do I Look also explores the prejudices members of the ball culture face due to their sexuality and race. In a 2005 New York Times article, choreographer Willi Ninja commented about the mainstream society's readiness to embrace facets of ball culture while also rejecting the Ball "children" due to their sexuality:

... "If Madonna does voguing, it's O.K.," he added. "But when the ball children dance, even now, people say, 'Oh, it's a bunch of crazy queens throwing themselves on the floor.'"

Other subjects speak about their attempts to forge careers in mainstream society and the effect that HIV and AIDS has had on ball culture as many of the subjects featured died of AIDS during or shortly after filming was complete.

Reception

Box office

As an independent film production, How Do I Look did not receive financing or distribution from the commercial film industry. The filmmakers arranged independent screenings and distribution world-wide. As a result, the film was not made widely available in commercial movie theatres or art-houses upon its release in June 2006 during Gay Pride month. The documentary's earnings have principally come from the sale of DVD's and, more recently, from online streaming sites. Over the years, however, How Do I Look has earned commercial success by word of mouth recommendations, its numerous appearances in film festivals, and from its goodstanding relationship with the Ball community.

Critical response

Prior to its release in 2006, early screenings of How Do I Look garnered prominent media mentions in the Village Voice, the New York Post, and the New York Times.     Early on, How Do I Look was noted as an "awareness program," alluding to the film's noble aspects to empower members of the Ballroom community. The media attention also focused on the African-American and Latino gay subculture, who were known to go to lengths to keep their homosexuality "under wraps," a situation referred to as being on the down low. Often, the film's numerous screenings in academic settings were reported.

In the years following its release, How Do I Look has repeatedly been the subject of reports in the foreign press, including in the French public radio channel, France Inter.  The documentary was noted for its goal of empowering the LGBTQ Ballroom community, in particular following the AIDS pandemic, as was reported in Italian Vogue.  In Spanish Vanity Fair, the documentary was noted for having given new life to the vogue (dance) artistic impression, in particular by having added social, racial, and political conscience to the Ballroom community.

Accolades

Because How Do I Look was produced by and for the Ballroom community, it has been praised for having the coöperation of the Ball community in its production and for being faithful to its subject matter. The documentary has been named to several must-watch lists by the LGBTQ media. Them, the LGBTQ publication owned by Conde Naste, short-listed How Do I Look in its review of Ballroom history. Out magazine listed How Do I Look amongst six films about the Ballrooms and voguing. Mainstream culture publications, like W magazine, have also short-listed How Do I Look as a must-see "pride" film for LGBTQ audiences.

The revealing interviews documented in How Do I Look have been lauded, in retrospect, for having been ahead of their time. In a review of "Transgender Sex Work and Society," which has been described as the definitive book about transgender sex work, a transgender star of How Do I Look was noted for her frank talk about transgender sex work.

Controversies

How Do I Look began filming in the wake of accusations that the filmmaker behind Paris Is Burning had exploited members of the Ballroom community during the making of that film.  The accused exploitation was the inspiration for How Do I Look, said co-assistant director Kevin Omni.  In the years since How Do I Look was released, the documentary has been mentioned by many as providing balance to and/or a follow-up or sequel of Paris Is Burning. Two of the co-assistant directors of the film were members of the Ballroom community, Kevin Omni and Luna Khan. In the media, Omni has also noted that the film aimed to create "possibilities" for members of the Ballroom community.

Production notes
How Do I Look was filmed in New York City and Philadelphia. It premiered at the NewFest Film Festival in New York City in June 2006.  The assistant directors were Kevin Burrus and Luna Khan.

Home media
How Do I Look was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States.

References

External links
 
 

2006 films
2006 in LGBT history
2006 documentary films
American documentary films
American films
LGBT African-American culture
American independent films
Documentary films about HIV/AIDS
Documentary films about ball culture
English-language films
Films about fashion
Films shot in New York City
HIV/AIDS in the United States
2006 LGBT-related films
Documentary films about dance The Migraine Disability Assessment Test (MIDAS) is a test used by doctors to determine how severely migraines affect a patient's life.  Patients are asked questions about the frequency and duration of their headaches, as well as how often these headaches limited their ability to participate in activities at work, at school, or at home.

The test was evaluated by the professional journal Neurology in 2001; it was found to be both reliable and valid.

Questions
The MIDAS contains the following questions:

 On how many days in the last 3 months did you miss work or school because of your headaches?
 How many days in the last 3 months was your productivity at work or school reduced by half or more because of your headaches?  (Do not include days you counted in question 1 where you missed work or school.)
 On how many days in the last 3 months did you not do household work because of your headaches?
 How many days in the last three months was your productivity in household work reduced by half of more because of your headaches?  (Do not include days you counted in question 3 where you did not do household work.)
 On how many days in the last 3 months did you miss family, social or leisure activities because of your headaches?

The patient's score consists of the total of these five questions. Additionally, there is a section for patients to share with their doctors:

What your Physician will need to know about your headache:

A. On how many days in the last 3 months did you have a headache?
(If a headache lasted more than 1 day, count each day.)	

B. On a scale of 0 - 10, on average how painful were these headaches? 
(where 0 = no pain at all and 10 = pain as bad as it can be.)

Scoring
Once scored, the test gives the patient an idea of how debilitating his/her migraines are based on this scale:

0 to 5, MIDAS Grade I, Little or no disability 

6 to 10, MIDAS Grade II, Mild disability

11 to 20, MIDAS Grade III, Moderate disability

21+, MIDAS Grade IV, Severe disability

References

External links
Migraine Treatment

Migraine